


Who We Become

by thesynapticsnap



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Also this really isn't as dark as the tags would lead you to believe honestly, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bathing/Washing, Biting, Dark Shiro (Voltron), Gallows Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Marking, Minor Character Death, Moral Ambiguity, Nor is non-con depicted onscreen or described graphically, Partial Mind Control, Past Sexual Abuse, Plot Twists, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prisoner of War, Rape/Non-con Elements, There is ABSOLUTELY NO non-con between Shiro and Lance, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-11-16 07:32:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11249190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesynapticsnap/pseuds/thesynapticsnap
Summary: After two years of serving the Galra Empire, Shiro manages to retrieve the Blue Lion of Voltron. Zarkon rewards him by gifting him her paladin.Lance is sure this is the end for him...but maybe Shiro is not who he seems.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a little darker than anything I've written in a while, and also more plot-focused. It's not incredibly graphic or angsty (despite the tags), but fair warning. I typically write fluff, so check out my other stuff if that's more your thing~
> 
> Oh, and do give Shiro a chance, he is not as terrible as he seems at first haha

Lance was significantly less dead than he thought he’d be by now.

He probably shouldn’t let himself get too attached to the whole ‘being alive’ thing though, seeing as he was likely going to die in the next five minutes. If he was lucky. If the Galra didn’t kill him now, he figured he’d be subjected to a few days of horrific torture before his heart finally gave out and he was allowed the sweet release of death.

Deep down, he’d always known they were fighting a fruitless battle against the Galra. He’d just kind of counted on getting killed or captured eventually, but damn, he hadn’t counted on it happening quite so soon. Barely six months had passed since Voltron was reformed and they’d began their fight against the Galra Empire… and here he was, already bound and gagged before Zarkon’s throne.

Several others were in attendance with the emperor. Lance recognized one of them as Sendak, a Galra commander that had nearly taken them out on several different occasions. He regarded Lance with a smug expression as he struggled against his binds, his mechanical eye glistening with malice.

He only knew the name Haggar from Allura’s stories, but the cloaked figure at Zarkon’s side couldn’t be anyone else. She was smiling at him, and that was by far the scariest thing about his current situation. According to Allura, Haggar was an immensely powerful witch and the one responsible for the creature-machine hybrids they constantly fought against. Lance would gladly take death or torture over being handed over to her.

He felt sick whenever his eyes settled on the last of Zarkon’s attendants. A human, who looked almost comically small beside Sendak, had also been given the honor of a place at the emperor’s side. Despite the white streak in his hair and the scar across his nose, Lance immediately knew who he was...Shiro, the pilot who’d been assigned to the doomed Kerberos mission almost two years prior.

It wasn’t like Lance didn’t already know about Shiro joining the Galra. Hell, Shiro had attacked them directly on several occasions, albeit it had always been from within one of the Galra fighter jets. Actually seeing the man he’d once considered his hero in person, standing there aside the cruelest bastard in the universe as his ally, crushed Lance all over again. 

And the worst part of all? Shiro was the one who’d all but blown Blue to pieces during the battle. Shiro was the one who’d captured him. His hero, the man he’d looked up to for years and aspired to become, was the one who’d dragged him out of Blue’s destroyed cockpit and thrown him at Zarkon’s feet like a burnt offering.

“I am most impressed, Champion. Not only did you recover the Blue Lion, you managed to keep its paladin alive. We will be able to locate the remaining lions much sooner with the information he will provide.”

Lance’s heart sank. So torture it was. Dammit, he’d kind of been looking forward to a swift end.

“I am glad to be of service, Sire,” said Shiro, bowing his head. “May I be permitted to offer a suggestion in regards to the blue paladin?”

Zarkon sat back and folded his hands in front of him, studying Shiro with something akin to fondness. It was the way one might regard a favorite pet that had done something particularly clever.

“Speak, then.”

“I don't think we should let the druids interrogate him. I’m not sure he would survive the process in his weakened state, and we could get far more use out of him if he was allowed to recover and given an obedience implant instead.”

“An excellent suggestion, Champion,” Haggar declared, her smile widening into a toothy grin as she turned to look at Lance.

“Hmm.” Zarkon rubbed at his chin, considering their proposal. “I suppose we are in no hurry to extract the information. With the Blue Lion in our possession, the others cannot form Voltron and do not pose a significant threat to us at the moment. Very well. Your request is granted.”

“Thank you, Sire. Given what I know of this particular paladin, I don’t believe he is going to provide us with much useful information in any case.”

“Are you sure you don’t want the emperor to spare the blue paladin for a different reason, Champion?” said Sendak. The Galra had turned his attention to Shiro, still wearing the same smug expression.

“What are you suggesting, Commander?” Shiro said, his voice dripping with annoyance. He looked to be just barely resisting the urge to roll his eyes, and Lance almost wanted to laugh. How many times had he directed that same exasperated expression at one of his younger siblings?

His siblings he was never, ever going to see again. Oh. Suddenly it wasn’t really all that funny anymore.

“Surely you’ve been lonely as the only Terran on board since the unfortunate passing of your weakling friends. I would think you’d leap at the opportunity to take this one as your companion.”

Lance’s stomach dropped. So Sam and Matt Holt were dead after all. How was he going to tell Pidge that all her searching, all her sleepless nights scouring the stars for one small sign of her family, were in vain?

Oh. Right. He wasn’t. Because he was never going to see Pidge again either.

“Are you interested in claiming the blue paladin, Champion?” Zarkon asked Shiro, the same fondness from before reflected in his tone.

Shiro hesitated.

“If you would allow it, I would be grateful, Sire.”

“I believe you’ve more than earned a reward for your actions today. The blue paladin is yours to do with as you see fit. Just see to it his obedience implant is installed as soon as possible so we do not have to tolerate disobedience for longer than is necessary.”

Zarkon dismissed them after that, and all three came to where Lance was bound on the floor. He gave them the most menacing glare he could manage with a swollen eye and blood crusted all over his face, but it just earned him a laugh from Sendak.

“Ugly little thing,” Sendak chuckled, grabbing Lance by the chin and jerking his head up. “Uglier than you, Champion, and that’s saying something.”

Shiro didn’t take the bait, instead just reaching forward to shove Sendak’s hand away.

“Get up,” he said to Lance.

Lance struggled to rise from his kneeled position, some of his injuries making it difficult to move. Shiro didn’t give him very long before he grew impatient and hauled him up himself. He felt a hot spike of pain shoot through his leg when he attempted to set his foot down and all but collapsed against Shiro’s broad chest.

“Frail too,” Sendak commented when Shiro scooped Lance into his arms. “Though I suppose that’s a bonus for you, isn’t it? Now there’s finally someone aboard this ship that’s weaker than you.”

“Don’t you have duties to attend to, Commander?” Shiro muttered as he started off down the long hallway leading out of Zarkon’s throne room.

Sendak continued to walk at their side for a few more minutes, trying his damnedest to get Shiro riled up, but eventually grew bored of it and turned down a different hallway.

“Sendak is being even more insufferable than usual, I see,” Haggar said

“We both knew he was going to react poorly to my promotion. He’ll get over it eventually.”

“I did not like him speaking to you that way in front of the emperor. His words were as much of an insult to me as they were to you. You are my creation, after all.”

Lance should have guessed Haggar was the one responsible for turning Shiro into a superpowered killing machine. Allura claimed she was one of the most brilliant beings in all of the known universe, possessing an insane amount of both arcane and technical knowledge. Had she been one of the good guys, she probably would have brought about universal peace by now… but instead she poured all of her genius into creating robotic abominations and keeping Zarkon alive.

“What will you call your new pet, Champion?” Haggar said after a moment. It was an attempt at small talk, Lance realized. Wow. It was sure weird hearing a crazy Galra witch try to make small talk like a normal person might.

“His name is Lance.”

“Ah yes, I do recall seeing that name in your reports. He was the weakest of the five, if I remember correctly?”

“Why do you think he was the one I targeted?”

Ok, ouch. Lance already hated himself enough without hearing his former hero call him a loser.

“It is unfortunate you could not bring me one of the others with more potential.”

“I agree, but Lance will be far easier to mold to fit our purposes. Once he’s recovered I’ll have the implant installed and see if we can include him in the reeducation classes with our latest batch of prisoners.”

“In the meantime, I have something for you,” Haggar said. She reached into the depths of her robes and retrieved what appeared to be a glowing purple collar. “This will prevent him from disobeying you until his implant is in place. Sync the collar with your prosthetic before you put it on him.”

“Thank you, Haggar. I’ll be down to see you in a few days so we can complete the modifications.”

Haggar left them then, and Shiro carried Lance a while longer until he finally reached what Lance assumed was his private room aboard the ship. It was a large room with several pieces of furniture scattered about, but didn’t seem to contain any personal belongings. The only thing that looked even remotely out of place was a piece of clothing thrown haphazardly over the back of the armchair in the room.

Shiro laid Lance down on the bed, propping his head against the pillows, and undid his gag. The moment it fell from his lips Lance blurted out the words he’d been wanting to say since Shiro yanked him from the wreckage of Blue.

“ _Fuck you_.”

Shiro didn’t respond, instead focusing on getting the glowing collar around his neck. Once it was secured and he’d done something with the settings on his mechanical arm, he made short work of the bindings on Lance’s wrists.

“I’d suggest not attacking me,” Shiro said, standing up.

“Shock collar?” Lance sneered.

“Something like that. I don’t think you want to find out the specifics.”

Shiro didn’t say anything else. He crossed the room to where his desk was located and picked up a tablet before settling down with it in the armchair. After a few seconds Lance caught the sound of familiar little ‘pings’ and 8-bit music.

“Are you--” Lance had to take a moment, not believing what he was hearing. “Are you playing a fucking game right now?”

“Can’t work all the time.”

“You’re -- you’re playing a fucking game--” Lance kicked his legs over the edge of the bed and got to his feet, anger temporarily trumping his pain. “You just destroyed my fucking life and you’re sitting there playing a goddamn game like nothing happened!”

“Lay back down,” Shiro said, not bothering to look up from his tablet.

“Fuck you! You don’t tell me what to do! Go ahead and shock me, I don’t fucking care! I’ve got nothing to lose anymore, asshole.”

Shiro sighed and put his tablet down, gazing up at Lance with a resigned look in his eyes.

“You really want to talk about this now?”

“I don’t want to talk about anything! Not with you, you fucking traitor!”

Lance tensed as Shiro got up and began to approach him again, but stood his ground. Shiro just stared at him before shoving him backward onto the bed.

Lance scrambled to sit up, for one terrified moment thinking Shiro was about to crawl on top of him, but the other man just sat on the edge of the bed and continued to stare at him.

“You’re understandably upset--”

“Understatement of the fucking century,” Lance spat.

“--but it’s in your best interest to go ahead and get over it. You’re not going anywhere, Lance. This is your life now.”

Lance felt tears burning in the rims of his eyes and it took every ounce of his willpower not to cry. Because Shiro was right -- there was no getting out of this one, not this time. And he deserved it. He’d practically served himself to the enemy on a silver platter with his reckless flying earlier. At least it had been him. At least the people who actually had a chance of making any kind of difference at all had gotten away.

“God, do you even remember who you used to be, Shiro?” he said quietly, his vitriol displaced by sadness as he spoke. “Do you remember anything about your life before the Galra captured you?”

Shiro’s name felt strange on his tongue, but Lance had no idea how he was supposed to address him. Would Shiro make him call him ‘master’? That’s essentially what he was now, wasn’t it? He even had a damn collar on Lance to mark him as his possession.

“Honestly? No, I don’t recall much of my time on Earth aside from a few scattered memories,” Shiro said. It surprised Lance that he actually gave him an answer.  “My past doesn’t concern me. I’ve made a good life for myself among the Galra, just as you’re going to do.”

Lance swallowed down the rest of the questions he’d intended to ask, because frankly, he didn’t want the answers. He didn’t need to hear that Shiro had forgotten even his best friend, Keith, the man who’d taken up the mantle of the black paladin and shouldered the crushing burden of leading Voltron just to have a chance at saving someone who didn’t even remember him.

“I’m not going to last long enough to make any kind of life for myself,” he said instead. “You said it yourself. I’m the weakest member of Voltron. Zarkon’s probably going to turn me into food goo once he realizes just how useless I am.”

“No one expects you to be of any use at the moment.” Wow, no one could ever accuse Shiro of beating around the bush, huh? “You’ll eventually be provided with artificial enhancements that should make up for what you lack. In the meantime you’re under my protection.”

Lance just stared down at his hands tucked in his lap.

“So what exactly are they gonna do to me once I’ve recovered?”

“Ah, that. You’ll be receiving an obedience implant. It’s a device that integrates with your nervous system and detects any violent or rebellious thoughts and overrides them before you can act. Everyone on board except the emperor has one installed.”

“So mind control,” Lance said hollowly.

“No, not really. The device is only activated if you’re considering an act that would harm the emperor or Galra Empire. It’s a way for Emperor Zarkon to maintain control without having to individually monitor everyone on board at all times. Once yours is installed you’ll be able to freely roam the ship, unless of course you’d prefer to remain locked in my quarters for the rest of your life.”

“Oh no, I’ll definitely be sure to take advantage of the illusion of freedom,” Lance said with a sneer. “Don’t suppose there’s a good gym around here? Maybe a spa?”

“No spa,” said Shiro. “But there is a training deck. There’s also a dining hall and library on board. Do you like to read?”

“Not really.”

“Huh, that’s too bad. I’m placing you in the library for your work assignment.”

“Huh? Why the hell would you put me in the library? I’m a trained fighter pilot. I don’t know shit about books.”

“From what I saw earlier, you don’t appear to know much about flying either.”

Goddamn, this guy was cold.

“Well I’m a pretty good marksman. Isn’t there something I could do with the weapons division? Train people or something?” If he was going to be forced to work for the Galra, the least they could do was let him do something he was decent at.

Shiro’s mouth quirked upward into a little smirk.

“You’re not going anywhere near a gun, Lance. Not until you’ve been here a while and proven you can be trusted.”

“But I’ll have that implant thingy, right? It’s not like I can just go on a mass killing spree with that thing inside me.”

“No, but we’re still not going to risk it. Once you’ve earned my trust I’ll consider having you transferred. Until then, you’ll be in the library helping our archivist translate the data we’ve obtained from recently conquered planets and uploading them to our main server.”

“Dude, I know English and Spanish...and honestly, I'm not even super great with either of those. How the fuck am I supposed to translate a bunch of alien documents?”

“There’s an app for that.”

Lance stared at him. Shiro had said it with a completely straight face, but there was no way that hadn’t been a reference to that old-as-balls Earth meme. He didn't laugh.

“Really,” Shiro said after a moment. “We’re going to install a universal translator in addition to your obedience implant.”

“Great! Just great! So when do they cut my arm off and replace it with some cyborg rig?”

“Not for a while, probably. Typically the druids reserve those sort of enhancements for those who have proven their loyalty and worth.” Shiro paused, looking him over. “It’s almost time for lights out. We need to go ahead and get you showered and changed.”

Shiro pressed a button on his arm and held it up to his face, speaking into it.

“Requesting new clothing package for Unit 445. Terran, size--” He looked back at Lance. “--small.”

Lance bristled at that, but didn’t say anything.

“All right,” said Shiro. “I’m going to help you get undressed and cleaned up. Your clothing should be delivered by the time we’re done.”

“Hey, get off me you--” Lance struggled the best he could as Shiro lifted him into his arms and carried him bridal style across the room. “I swear to god if you try anything--”

“You’re hardly in a state to be threatening me,” Shiro said, stepping into the bathroom and letting the door close behind them. He flipped the lid down on what appeared to be a perfectly normal toilet and sat Lance on top of it. “But don't worry. I’m not going to hurt you.”

That was rich, coming from the guy who’d blown a hole in the side of his lion and nearly killed him earlier that day.

Lance stiffened when Shiro pulled his own shirt over his head and tossed it aside. His chest was badly scarred, though the thing Lance’s mind homed in on was the fact he was ripped as hell. Even if he wanted to fight this guy, he wouldn’t stand a chance against someone so strong…

“Why are you getting undressed?” Lance said, panicking somewhat when Shiro began to shrug out of his pants.

“I told you, I’m going to help you shower.”

“I don’t need help,” Lance insisted, but Shiro kept undressing. Oh god, now he was standing there freaking naked. He couldn’t help but stare between his legs. Even soft Shiro was sporting quite the package.

To think this situation might have been a dream come true once. Now, it was a waking nightmare.

“Don’t touch me!” he snapped when Shiro reached for him. He tried to curl into a ball there on the toilet seat, even though he knew there was no escaping Shiro at this point.

Surprisingly, Shiro didn’t immediately yank him up and tear his clothes off. Lance dared sneak a nervous glance up at him to find him just standing there with his arms crossed.

“Well, get yourself undressed,” Shiro said. “One of us is going to have to do it. You’re not going to bed covered in blood and grime.”

Bed. That was another thing. Where the hell was Lance going to sleep? There was only one bed in Shiro’s room… maybe he’d want Lance to sleep at the foot of it, or on the floor beside him. Maybe he’d let him take the armchair. Surely he wouldn’t want Lance sleeping beside of him under the sheets, right?

Lance reluctantly obeyed Shiro and started to unbuckle the fastenings of his paladin armor. As he went through the motions of undressing he found his mind going to dark places, flooding him with thoughts of what his new life would entail. He’d been given to Shiro as a gift… a “companion”, as Sendak had put it.

Just what sort of “companion” was he intended to be? Lance hadn’t missed the suggestive tone Sendak used when he’d called him that, and he knew, of course, what sort of things could happen to people taken as prisoners of war. That’d been one of the first topics they went over back at the garrison.

What was it they’d taught him? Try to resist the enemy as much as he was able? He was sure doing a great job of that so far, getting naked for his captor like an hour after he’d been captured.

He finally got all of his armor set aside and started to work on getting out of his bodysuit. It was always an awkward process even when he wasn’t injured, but trying to get out of the thing when he couldn’t move his arm without pain shooting through him made it feel impossible. He struggled with the suit for a good few minutes before a broken sob escaped him and he slumped forward in defeat.

“I can’t,” he whimpered.

“Will you let me help you, then?”

Lance just gave a weak nod, too demoralized to care anymore. Shiro leaned over him and began to work at the suit. He was surprisingly gentle in undressing him, pausing whenever he saw Lance wince and moving his hands away from the area causing the reaction. It didn’t take long for him to get the suit peeled off the upper part of Lance’s body, and he squatted down beside him in preparation for the next part.

Lance closed his eyes as he felt the suit, along with his underwear, slide down and off. The fabric snagged on the worst of his injuries, the blood from the cut on his thigh gluing it to his body, so Shiro had to stop and slowly peel it away from his skin. He bit his lip to keep from whining when he felt fresh blood trickle out of the wound, racing slick and hot down his thigh.

“Sorry,” Shiro muttered, noticing the blood when he got the leg of the suit unstuck. He slipped the suit over Lance’s feet and it finally fell to the floor. “Your injuries are worse than I thought. We’ll take you by the medbay in the morning.”

Lance really didn’t want to go anywhere near Galra doctors, but he didn’t have the strength to protest. It wasn’t like it was going to do him any good anyways. He couldn’t just say ‘no’ to Shiro.

“Can you stand up? I’ll let you lean on me for support, but I don’t think we’re going to be able to pull this off with me holding you.”

Shiro took Lance’s hands, helping him get to his feet and hobble over to the shower. He kept Lance leaned against him as he turned on the water. It came out searing hot, and Lance’s wounds screamed under the heat.

“Is that too hot for you?” Shiro asked.

Lance shook his head, trying to numb himself to the pain. He should probably go ahead and get used to being in agony all the time.

“Lance, answer me. It’s okay if you need me to adjust the temperature.”

“A little cooler,” Lance mumbled.

Relief washed over him when cool water suddenly replaced the torrent of heat, soothing the stringing of his injuries. He braced himself against the wall and allowed himself a moment to relish the feel of all the blood and grime being cleaned from his skin. It was almost like he was safe and sound back on the castle ship, taking a shower in his own room, until he felt Shiro behind him.

“Relax, I’m just washing your back,” Shiro said, sensing Lance’s tension. Lance felt something slick and soapy against his skin, followed by the rougher texture of a wash rag.

Lance endured the washing as best he could. There was nothing sensual about it; it was clinical, the way someone might bathe an elderly person in a nursing home. Still, Lance had to force himself not to pull away when Shiro inevitably reached his buttocks and groin. At least he was quick about those.

Shiro washed himself after he finished with Lance, and then helped Lance get dried off. He left Lance sitting there wrapped in a towel while he disappeared into the bedroom, returning a moment later with something in his hand.

“They delivered your clothes,” Shiro said. “These should be easier to get on and off. Think you can get yourself dressed?”

Lance took the offered clothing and got himself dressed as Shiro did the same. Once both of them were finished, Shiro lifted Lance into his arms and carried him back to the bedroom. Lance felt the panic from before settle in his gut when Shiro tugged back the sheets and placed him beneath them.

“So I’m...sleeping with you, then?” Lance said, not looking at Shiro as he settled in bed beside of him.

“Where else would you sleep? There’s only one bed.”

“I could sleep on the floor. Or the chair. I just...don’t want to take up all your space.”

“The bed’s big enough for both of us. You really don’t take up that much space.”

Right. Size small. Lance was more than a little annoyed with the fact his new clothes fit him perfectly.

The lights above them dimmed. Within the next few minutes the room was pitch black, and Lance’s heartbeat was pounding in his chest. He turned over so that his back was to Shiro, even though he knew that just made him all the more vulnerable. He just couldn’t stand to look at the man.

“If you’re worried I’m going to force you to have sex with me, you can put your mind at ease,” Shiro said after they’d laid there in silence for a moment. “I’m not that kind of person, Lance.”

“Oh, so rape is where you draw the line,” Lance said. He tried to sound derisive, but his voice came out shaky instead. “You’ll murder and enslave people all day long, and mind control is a-ok, but you’re not a rapist. Good to know.”

The sheets shifted as Shiro turned over in bed to face Lance’s back.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve been brainwashed by your fellow paladins.”

“ _I've_ been brainwashed?” Lance snapped, flipping over to face Shiro. “You’re the one who literally has a freaking mind control device inside his body.”

“Again. Not mind control--”

“Whatever! It’s still fucked up! You’re still not allowed to think for yourself! How did this happen? How did someone like you fall for Zarkon’s bullshit?”

Lance sat up, all of his fear suddenly replaced by anger.

“You used to be someone that gave others hope. Someone that gave _me_ hope. You were my goddamn hero back at the garrison. Such a smart and talented guy, such a great leader… you’re the last person anyone would have ever expected to join some evil megalomaniac dictator. You should be fighting Zarkon! You should be on our side, dammit!”

He wanted to cry again. All of this was so, so wrong. Maybe Slav had been right about the existence of alternate universes. Maybe he’d somehow wound up in another reality during their last wormhole jump. That was the only explanation for Shiro being a bad guy that Lance was willing to accept. There was no way this man was the same Shiro he remembered, the man that had been Keith’s best friend back on Earth, the man he’d looked up to for so many years…

“You’ll come to understand eventually,” Shiro said quietly. “But we are not having this discussion tonight. Go to sleep. I’ll be waking you in a few hours to go to the medbay.”

Shiro turned back over and was quiet after that. Lance remained sitting upright, still fuming, but the quiet of the room drained the rage from him after a few minutes. Eventually he lay back down and shut his eyes, exhaustion overtaking him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Lance pay a visit to the medbay*, and afterwards Lance makes a discovery that is too good to be true.
> 
> Meanwhile, the other paladins are trying to figure out a way to retaliate against Zarkon. Keith has been hiding something from the rest of the team...
> 
> *(the 'medbay' in this case is NOT the place we saw in the show where Shiro was about to undergo surgery)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who commented/left kudos on the previous chapter! :D

“Lance. It’s time to get up.”

Lance groaned and lifted his head, blinking the sleep from his eyes and looking around the dimly lit room. It took a moment for his brain to process that he was not, in fact, in his bedroom back on the castle ship, but still within Shiro’s room on Zarkon’s ship.

Damn. He’d really hoped the “it was all a dream” thing would come through for him.

Shiro tossed a couple articles of clothing at him and told him to get dressed. The clothing didn’t look much different from what he’d worn to bed, but he guessed the few subtle differences mattered to the Galra. He got dressed without comment, not even bothering to feel embarrassed about doing it in front of Shiro.

“All right,” said Shiro. “I’m going to carry you to medbay. Once they patch up your injuries you should be able to walk on your own from here on out.”

As if being carried like a blushing bride by his captor wasn’t bad enough, they ran into Sendak on their way there. The Galra smirked when he saw them approaching and moved to block their path.

“Well, well, your pet still can’t walk?” Sendak said, grinning at Lance. “Was his leg injured that badly? Or were you just a bit too rough with him last night?”

“We’re on our way to medbay, Sendak,” Shiro said flatly. Apparently he dropped Sendak’s title when he wasn’t in Zarkon’s presence.

“That doesn’t answer my question, little Champion.”

Lance felt a tiny bit of mirth at Sendak’s use of the word ‘little’. Hah. Lance might be a ‘size small’ to Shiro, but Shiro wasn’t all that big and bad around the Galra, now was he?

“I don’t see why you need to know that information.”

Sendak just stood there smirking down at them, looking more amused than anything.

“You haven’t claimed him yet. I can tell,” Sendak said after a moment. “I suggest you do it soon. Someone else might take an interest in your ugly little plaything and lay claim to him before you do if you aren’t careful.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Shiro muttered, finally just shoving past Sendak. The commander’s laughter followed them all the way down the hall.

Lance really didn’t want to know what the hell Sendak was talking about, but he figured he was worse off remaining ignorant. If there was some weird Galra rule that might allow him to become the property of an even crueler master, it was best to find out how to prevent that.

“What exactly did Sendak mean by ‘claim’?”

Shiro didn’t reply for a moment.

“It’s...exactly what you’re thinking.”

“Oh.” Lance grimaced. “So...I’m not actually your slave or whatever until you...do that?”

“You’re not going to be anyone’s slave, Lance. I intend for you to be my companion.”

“Yeah...whatever. Just uh, tell me this...what happens if you don’t ‘claim’ me?”

Shiro hesitated again.

“You’re technically considered fair game.”

Great, just great. He’d actually thought he was going to get to live out his miserable life among the Galra without getting reamed when Shiro didn’t force himself on him last night. Apparently not.

“So I guess you’re just waiting until I’m healed to mark your territory,” Lance said miserably, realizing he’d be good to go as soon as they left the medbay.

“Lance. I told you, I’m not forcing you to do that. Just because that’s how the Galra do things doesn’t mean I’m required to do the same.”

“I mean, honestly... I’d rather you do it than get torn in two by one of those giant bastards.”

“It’s not going to be an issue. As long as the Galra know you’re under my protection they’re not going to touch you, regardless of whether I’ve claimed you or not.”

“Uh, I didn’t exactly get the impression you’ve got Sendak quaking in his boots.”

“Sendak,” Shiro said, frowning. “Is an exception. I doubt he’d be foolish enough to actually try anything, but do steer clear of him when you’re not with me.”

They made it to the medbay a short while later. Lance expected it to be as dark and dreary as the rest of the ship, but it was surprisingly well-lit and even a little -- dare he say -- cozy. Well, _cozy_ probably wasn’t the right word. There had to be a rule against anything on a Galra ship being considered 'cozy', but it was certainly less sterile and mechanical than everything else he’d seen so far, including Shiro’s quarters. Soft, worn chairs sat aside cots with multi-colored blankets, and there were holoscreens projected on the walls depicting what appeared to be Galra children and families. Lance hadn’t even known Galra children existed. He’d just assumed they all emerged fully-grown from a black hole somewhere.

“You know...it seems kinda out of character for the Galra to even have a sickbay. I thought you guys just killed anybody that got sick or injured,” Lance said to Shiro.

“It depends on the severity of the illness or injury,” Shiro replied. “Flesh-eating bacteria? Extensive brain damage? Those are death sentences. But we aren’t going to throw away a valuable officer just because he caught the space flu. We’re practical, not stupid.”

There was a noise from the back of the clinic and a Galra wearing a white coat popped his head out to look at them. His eyes widened when he saw who was waiting on him, and he scrambled to come meet them. He was much smaller than most of the Galra, just a few inches taller than Shiro, and honestly looked more like a teenager than an adult. Lance snorted when he tripped over something in his haste.

“Champion! I didn’t realize you were here!” the Galra stammered once he’d scurried up to Shiro. “I was in the back working and--”

“Calm down, Vortok,” Shiro said, chuckling. “I just got here. I need you to patch up my companion here.”

The Galra’s eyebrows shot up when he got a good look at Lance.

“Oh! This is the blue paladin of Voltron, isn’t it?”

“Former,” Lance said with a sneer.

“I heard all about your capture of the Blue Lion yesterday, but I didn’t realize you’d captured her paladin as well. You truly are amazing, Champion!”

Vortok had a starry-eyed look on his face as he said this. God, he was basically the Galra version of Lance when he’d first learned about Shiro back at the garrison...back when he used to get butterflies just passing him in the hall. He really hoped he hadn’t looked as blatantly lovestruck whenever he’d stolen glances at Shiro in public.

Vortok led them to what appeared to be a healing pod in the back. It looked remarkably similar to the ones back on the castle ship, which he supposed made sense since the Galra and Alteans had once been allies.

“So, aren’t you gonna knock me out?” he said as Shiro maneuvered him into the pod. “Back on my ship they always put us under first.”

“The Altean castle ship,” Shiro clarified for Vortok.

“Oh! You mean those pods still work after 10,000 years?” Vortok blew out a breath in disbelief. “No, we won’t be putting you under. There’s no need when these only take a few minutes to complete the healing process. At least in this case. We might put you under for more severe injuries.”

That wasn’t something he wanted to hear. The pods on the castle ship could take days to heal even minor fractures and the like, and the Galra’s technology could do that in mere minutes?

The pod closed and began to softly whir as it went to work. Just as Vortok said, Lance was fully healed and back on his feet in no time at all. His first time under the care of a Galra doctor hadn’t been nearly as bad as he'd anticipated.

“Vortok, while we’re here could you go ahead and install his universal translator?”

Well, shit. He’d spoken too soon.

“W-wait, are you installing that obedience thingy now too?” he said, instinctively resisting when Shiro and Vortok took him by the arms and began leading him toward a nearby operating table. Neither of them even seemed to notice his feeble flailing. They dragged him across the room and lifted him onto the table like it was nothing.

“Your obedience implant? Oh, no. Haggar is the only one authorized to install those,” Vortok said, his voice infuriatingly friendly for someone who was currently strapping him to a table. “There can be absolutely no margin of error with the installation of those. We have a little more wiggle room with other neural implants.”

“Wiggle room? You’ve got a little “wiggle room” with something you’re about to put IN MY BRAIN?!”

That was really not the sort of thing you wanted to hear from a guy who was holding a giant needle full of ominous looking purple liquid.

“Oh, don’t worry! I’ve done this procedure hundreds of times. Though you are only the second Terran I’ve done it for…”

“JESUS CHRIST!”

“Relax,” Shiro said, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Vortok installed my translator with no issues. It’s only going to take a few minutes.”

“At least tell me you’re knocking me out this time,” Lance whimpered, looking up at the needle. “That’s what the stuff in the needle is for, right?”

“This is actually the device itself in liquid form!” Vortok said cheerfully, squirting a bit of the liquid out the tip. “It’s going to attach itself to the appropriate brain regions and will solidify once everything’s in place. Nifty, huh?”

“Yeah, _nifty_ ,” Lance said blankly.

God, he had to find a way to reach the others. He had to let them know what kind of crazy shit the Galra had at their disposal.

The sudden prick of the needle against his skin launched him back into panic mode.

“Wait! Aren’t you at least going to give me a painkiller first!? You’re about to screw with my fucking brain--”

Vortok pushed the needle into the muscle of his upper arm and slowly pressed down on the plunger, releasing the liquid into his body. Lance could feel it moving through him like a sentient thing, burning in his muscles and veins as it sought its destination. He groaned in agony and writhed against his restraints when he felt it rush up his neck, but after that, the pain stopped. He blinked up at the doctor and Shiro looming above him.

“All right, Lance?” Shiro said.

“I uh...I think so?” He didn’t really want to ask if he was supposed to be in pain, because if it hadn’t worked they’d probably want to try again.

“Your brain doesn’t have any pain receptors,” said Shiro, somehow guessing what he was thinking. “But I assume it installed properly.”

Vortok held some sort of scanner up to his head and nodded.

“Yes, everything’s right where it should be. He should be good to go, Champion.”

Shiro thanked the doctor for his assistance (causing the fur on Vortok’s face to puff up, which Lance assumed was the Galra equivalent of a blush) and then the two of them headed out. At least Lance didn’t have to be carried around like a swooning maiden anymore.

“Uh, so...how exactly does this thing work?” Lance asked as they made their way back to Shiro’s quarters. “Can I like, speak every single language in the universe now? Or just understand them or what--”

“You can read and understand most languages now. As for speaking...sort of. You won’t notice when it converts your speech, but whoever you’re speaking to will be able to understand you.”

Ok, so as far as objects forcibly inserted into his body went, a universal translator was something Lance could live with.

“All right, I have to go to a meeting that should last about an hour, but otherwise I’ve cleared my schedule for today,” Shiro told him once they’d returned to the room. “The door will be locked, and I’ve also programmed your collar to disable you if you try to leave the room or do anything funny, so just...don’t.”

Shiro crossed the room and retrieved the tablet he’d been playing the game on the previous night. He tapped at it for a few seconds before holding it out for Lance to take. Lance regarded him with a skeptical look, but accepted it.

“That game uses the Galra language. Play it while I’m gone to make sure the translator is working correctly. I’ll be back in a while.”

Lance watched the door close behind Shiro before turning his attention to the tablet in his hands. He almost wanted to toss it aside out of spite, defying Shiro in some small way, but he was also really, really bored. Playing some stupid Galra game was better than sleeping or just staring at the wall until Shiro returned he figured.

It was a simple enough game, kind of like the ones he’d had on his cell phone back on Earth. It was super weird to think the Galra had that kind of equivalent, but then again, there were a lot of unexpected things Lance was finding out about them. Some of it should have been obvious, he supposed -- like of course the Galra had children. He’d just never seen any because even evil purple aliens seemed to know children didn’t belong in the military.

Galra made small talk. Galra could get embarrassing hero crushes. Of course, there were still bastards like Sendak among them, but maybe they weren’t all like that. Hell, that Vortok guy had seemed nice, and he’d even been kinda cute. For a Galra.

“Ugh, seriously?” Lance tried to swipe at the tablet’s screen only to realize it had frozen in the middle of his game. Dammit, he’d been doing pretty good too. So much for superior Galra technology…

The screen flashed white and he figured it’d run out of juice or something. He had no idea how to charge the thing, so he’d just have to wait until Shiro returned to ask. Just as he was about to toss it aside, however, something else flashed on the screen. Words. Words in some language that wasn’t Galra or any other language Lance had ever seen before.

Then the universal translator in his brain kicked in and the words transformed into a message he could read.

LANCE. THIS MESSAGE WILL DELETE ITSELF IN 30 SECONDS. I AM ON YOUR SIDE. BROUGHT YOU HERE FOR A REASON. CANNOT SPEAK ABOUT THIS OR IT WILL SET OFF MY IMPLANT. FOUND A WAY TO BYPASS. I WILL USE THIS GAME TO COMMUNICATE MY PLAN TO YOU OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. DO NOT MENTION THIS WHEN I RETURN. ACT NORMAL. JUST TRUST ME.

The message remained on the screen for a few more seconds before the device turned itself off. It rebooted itself afterwards and the game from before popped back up on the screen. Lance’s avatar collided with an obstacle and the game displayed the Galra words for “Try again?”

Lance’s heart was beating so hard he thought it was going to burst out of his chest. Was he hallucinating? Was this a side effect of the neural implant?

There was no way he’d just seen that.

 

* * *

 

“Keith, we’ve screwed around long enough. Get it together and tell Coran to plot a course for Zarkon’s fleet right now! I’m sick of sitting around while Lance is probably back there getting tortured!”

Keith forced himself to stand there and endure Hunk’s angry words. He knew exactly what it was like to lose your best friend to the Galra, and he didn’t blame Hunk one bit for being absolutely livid with the fact they hadn’t returned to rescue Lance yet. Keith wanted to go back as much as he did, but the fact of the matter was, they couldn’t. Not until they’d repaired the particle barrier that had been damaged during their last battle.

“Hunk, Coran and Pidge are down in the engine room with Slav doing everything they can to repair our defense system,” Allura said, walking up to Hunk and placing a hand on his shoulder. “Things might go a little faster if you went down and helped them.”

“I can’t. I can’t stop thinking about what they’re doing to him, I can’t…” Hunk lifted his hands to grab at his hair, and Keith didn’t miss how badly they were shaking.

“Hunk, Lance is going to be okay. He’s a strong person. He’ll find a way to survive until we’re able to get to him,” Keith said. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure of that. Lance was generally pretty resilient, but Keith wasn’t certain he could endure torture at the hands of the Galra for an extended period of time. A full 24 hours and then some had passed since he’d been captured. If he was still alive, he was likely reaching his limits.

“Please, Hunk, try to get some rest. You’ve not slept since we escaped,” said Allura. None of them had. They’d all been trying to find a way to get back to Lance since they’d emerged from the wormhole.

“No, no...I should...I should see if I can do something to help the others. I just…”

Keith came to stand beside Hunk, placing his hand on the shoulder opposite Allura.

“We’re going to save him, big guy. That’s a promise.”

Keith watched Hunk leave, feeling guilty for making a promise to him he wasn’t sure he could keep. It was the only thing he knew to do. Being the black paladin of Voltron meant it was his job to keep the spirits of his teammates up, even when his own sense of hope was long gone. He still didn’t understand why the Black Lion had chosen him to lead, when he’d spent his entire life keeping others at distance, never wanting to be responsible for anyone but himself. The others followed him without hesitation, but he didn’t feel he was much of a leader at all.

He felt Allura wrap her hands around his middle and place her chin on his shoulder, and he slumped back against her.

“You’re doing wonderfully, Keith.”

He didn’t know about that, but he really was doing all he could.

“Do you think Lance is alive?” he asked.

He felt her tense against him, and his heart sank.

“I don’t know. I...I’m fairly confident they wouldn’t kill him immediately. Zarkon would have at least tried to get him to reveal information about the remaining lions and our ship. As to whether Lance would be able to withstand the druids’ magic for very long…”

She trailed off, but Keith didn’t need to hear the rest to know she doubted Lance had survived. Keith decided they would still continue to pour their energy into fixing the ship and go after Zarkon as quickly as possible. It might be a pointless endeavor, but he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t even attempt to look for his captured teammate. If nothing else they still had to try and retrieve the Blue Lion, even if he had no idea who was going to pilot her in place of Lance.

“Who’s going to pilot Blue if we manage to get her back?” he asked Allura. There was a long pause, and he added, as an afterthought, “If Lance didn’t make it.”

“Well...Coran has piloting experience, and he and Lance were...are...close. There’s a chance she’d accept him as her new paladin. Or we might be forced to rotate our lions temporarily.”

“The lions would allow that?”

“It’s happened in the past, in cases where one of the paladins was not available.”

Keith couldn’t picture any of them in different lions. It had always been him and Black, Allura and Red, Hunk and Yellow, Pidge and Green, and Lance and Blue. He wondered who would be switched to which lion.

“Keith, there’s something else I’ve been meaning to talk to you about…”

Allura drew away from Keith and came to stand in front of him. She looked nervous, chewing at her bottom lip and wringing her hands.

“Yeah? What is it?”

“During the battle, the fighter jet that took out the Blue Lion… that was your friend, Shiro, wasn’t it?”

Keith felt dread close around his heart like a vice grip.

“Keith...you had a clear shot at that jet and you didn’t take it. I can’t think of any reason you would hesitate unless it was him.”

He’d prayed no one ever learned the truth -- that he’d chosen the life of a man who probably didn’t even remember his name over the life of his teammate and the fate of the universe -- but he should have known Allura would figure it out.

Even though he’d told her he’d given up on rescuing Shiro and bringing him to their side, he’d never really meant it, and Allura knew that. Still, he could tell she was holding out hope that she was wrong. She wanted Keith to tell her what had happened had merely been a fluke, that he could never be so cruel as to intentionally sacrifice his fellow paladin.

“I’m sorry,” he managed. It was an empty apology that could never make up for what he’d done, but he felt he should say it anyways.

“Keith…” He could hear the heartbreak in Allura’s voice, and knew if he looked at her there would be tears in her eyes.

“I’m going to get the Blue Lion back.” That’s all he could offer. He couldn’t change what had happened, couldn’t bring Lance back, but he could at least put Voltron back in their hands.

“Keith, I’m not sure it’s going to matter if we have the Blue Lion. I can’t...I don’t think I’m going to be able to form Voltron with you any longer.”

Keith knew he deserved her contempt. He’d betrayed her trust in him despite how hard she’d worked to support him as leader, despite the fact their relationship was on the precipice of evolving into something more intimate. All that they’d built together had just fallen to pieces.

“You’re going to have to figure out a way to make things work, because we’re just going to be worse off if we need to replace two paladins.”

“Keith, I just...I can’t believe this!” Allura sobbed, finally breaking. “How could you do this? Why?”

“You nearly launched us all into a sun because of your father!” Keith snapped. He had no right to go there, but it was too late to take it back. “Don’t ask me ‘why’. You know why. You know what it’s like.”

Allura hurried out of the room, but the sound of her sobbing echoed in Keith’s mind long after she’d gone. He slumped in his chair on the bridge and stared into the void, wondering how the hell he was still awake. Or why. It wasn’t like he was doing much of anything useful anyways.

He didn’t remember closing his eyes, but he apparently fell asleep at some point. When he woke up, he had to twist himself out of the uncomfortable position he’d fallen asleep in and stretch to get the feeling back in all his limbs.

Pidge was there with him, apparently the source of the shaking that had woken him up.

“Are the repairs done?” he asked groggily.

“No. Hunk and I switched out for a while. I’m not that much help with the cabling junk they’re messing around with at the moment.”

“Oh. Uh, ok. How much longer did they think it’d be?”

“Dunno. Coran said check back in a varga if I hadn't heard from him by then.” She sat on one of the armrests of his chair. “Allura told me about Shiro.”

“God,” Keith groaned. Had Allura really already ran and told everyone what a horrible person he was in the time he’d been out?

“Don’t worry, she hasn’t mentioned it to anyone else I don’t think. I only know because I ran into her in the hallway and asked her why she was crying.”

“Ugh, god, I know I fucked up, Pidge.” Keith rested his head in his hands. “I’m going to do whatever I can to fix things, but I can’t change what happened.”

“You did fuck up pretty bad, dude,” said Pidge. “But...if you’re really still intent on saving Shiro, I’ll help you.”

“Wait...what?” He lifted his head.

“Shiro was with my dad and brother when he was captured by the Galra. If we manage to get ahold of him, he’ll probably be able to tell us where they’re at. He’s also the one who took down Lance, so he might know where he wound up. Let’s plan to go after him directly whenever the repairs are made.”

“I...you don’t have to do this, Pidge.”

“I mean...Shiro might have gone over to the dark side, but he was one of Matt’s best friends back at the garrison. If nothing else, at least I’m saving someone my brother cared about. Even if he’s probably beyond saving in some other senses…”

“He’s not. I truly believe he’s not, Pidge,” said Keith. “Look, thanks for agreeing to help me. Let’s start trying to think of a plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you're enjoying so far. Let me know your thoughts in the comments :]


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance learns more about Shiro and the Galra, and an unexpected event arises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is shorter than the previous chapters...there is more written, but I'm not entirely sure how I want to handle it, honestly. I figured I'd go ahead and share the part I'm comfortable with in the meantime. Thank you for reading.

Lance jumped at the sound of the door sliding aside to let Shiro inside. His heart started pounding again as Shiro headed toward him, but he passed right by Lance and went to slump into the armchair. Shiro puffed out a breath of air and closed his eyes once he’d sat down, tilting his head back to rest against the back of the chair.

“Get the hang of that game yet?” Shiro asked after a moment, not looking up.

Lance hesitated. The message -- if there’d even been a message, and he hadn’t just been hallucinating -- had said not to bring it up. He’d been trying to figure out a way he might indirectly ask Shiro about it, but had failed to come up with a solution.

He’d considered, of course, that the message might be a test. Shiro might have put it there to assess his loyalties, and see if he was willing to conspire against the Galra Empire rather than report it. Why would he even bother with that though? What was the point when Lance would soon have an obedience device that prevented him from committing treason?

The only thing that made sense, if he was willing to believe the message wasn’t a figment of his imagination, was that Shiro really was on his side. Lance _had_ to believe that if he wanted to retain an iota of hope.

“I uh...yeah. The uh...translator’s working too, I think,” he said eventually.

“Good. In that case I want to go ahead and get you started in the library today. We’ll grab some food before heading over.”

“Uh, are we going now?” Lance asked, surprised when Shiro got up from the armchair. “Didn’t you want to maybe...talk or something?”

“We can talk on the way there. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us.”

Lance followed Shiro out of the room, silently trailing at his heels as he led them to the dining hall. Shiro wasn’t acting any differently at all. He hadn’t even given Lance some subtle cue -- a wink, a little nod -- that he understood Lance had read the message. The message had said he couldn’t say talk about it without setting off the obedience implant, but was it really _that_ sensitive?

“Hey Shiro...I’ve got a question about the obedience thingy.”

“Mm? What about it?”

“How exactly does it pick up on your thoughts? Like...do you have to actually say something out loud to trigger it?”

“It’s...complicated,” Shiro said. “Only Haggar and the druids truly understand how it works, but from what I gather, it’s sort of like a very sophisticated lie detector. If the implant detects activity in the regions of your brain associated with lying or rebellion, it performs a more complex analysis that determines if the thoughts are a legitimate threat before disabling you. All of that happens in a fraction of a second. So no, things doesn’t have to be spoken to trigger the implant.”

Jesus Christ. If Shiro really had put that message in the game, how the hell had he managed to do it? What kind of ‘bypass’ allowed him to trick his own damn brain?

Lance figured asking about a bypass wasn’t a smart idea. It technically went against the ‘don’t mention the message’ rule, and Shiro probably wouldn’t give him any sort of answer anyways.

“What kind of food do they have here?” he asked instead, changing the subject.

“There’s a variety. The chefs incorporate fare from a lot of the planets the Galra have conquered over the millennia. Everything here definitely beats the gruel back at the Garrison.”

“So, wait...let me get this straight. You can barely remember anything about your life on Earth, but you remember the Garrison’s shitty food?”

“I’ll never forget,” Shiro said, wrinkling his nose. “I’ve still got the taste of that mystery meat stuck on my tongue.”

Lance let out a laugh before he could stop himself, but quickly clamped his mouth shut and tucked his chin. Shiro looked over at him, smiling gently.

“It’s okay, Lance. You’re not obligated to be unhappy here, you know.”

“Uh well, it’s kind of sick not to be,” Lance mumbled, blushing. “I’m kind of a prisoner and some weird war-trophy-pet thing for one of Zarkon’s cronies. I really shouldn’t be jumping for joy here.”

“You’re not my ‘pet’,” Shiro said, frowning. “The others may view you that way, but I don’t. I asked the emperor to spare you because I wanted a friend. A companion.”

_I brought you here for a reason._

“So you’re the only other human on board, huh?” Lance said, sadness settling over him as he prepared to ask one of the questions he’d been withholding. “What happened to the others that were with you during the Kerberos mission?”

Shiro was quiet, his features darkening. For a moment Lance thought he’d finally gone too far, but Shiro sighed and gave him an answer after a short pause.

“When we were first brought here, they put me and the younger member of the crew, Matt, in the arena. We were forced to fight against other combatants for the entertainment of the Galra, with the promise that we would be given a place in the Empire if we proved ourselves worthy. Matt was killed early on. As for his father, the other member of our crew, I never learned exactly what happened to him. Sendak was sure to let me know he’d been killed, though.”

“So uh, how the hell did you go from being a piece of meat in the arena to working for Zarkon?” Lance still wasn’t sure what exactly Shiro did. Until yesterday, he’d thought Shiro was just a fighter pilot for the Galra, but he seemed to serve in some sort of advisory role to Zarkon too.

“That’s a long story. One we’re not going to get into right now,” Shiro said, giving Lance a small smile. “Anyways, we’re here. Let’s get you something to eat.”

Shiro helped Lance navigate the dining hall, piling a variety of alien foods onto his plate before finding an empty table for them. Lance went to town on the food as soon as they sat down, and was pleasantly surprised that most of it was actually pretty good. Life among the Galra at least had that going for it. As much as he wanted to get the hell out of there, one thing he wasn’t looking forward to was returning to a daily diet of bland food goo.

“My friend Hunk would love this place,” Lance declared through a mouthful of food. His eyes widened when he realized what he’d said. “Uh! I mean, the food. He’d love the food. The torture and mind control stuff is a definite dealbreaker. Please don’t bring him here. Please.”

“Hunk is the yellow paladin, right?” said Shiro, smiling softly.

“Uh...yeah. Yeah, that’s him. I uh...guess you probably already know he’s a crazy good chef.”

“That was one of the data points we collected on him, yes.”

Lance swallowed. Just how much data had the Galra collected on them? If they knew something as trivial as Hunk’s favorite pastime, what else had they figured out?

Well, aside from the fact that Lance was the weakest member of Voltron. That wasn’t really that hard to figure out anyways.

Lance was just about to pose that very question when he noticed Shiro’s attention was elsewhere. He turned to see what had distracted him and it didn’t take long to pinpoint the source -- Sendak was making his way toward their table.

“Sendak, what a pleasure to see you for the second time today,” Shiro said as the commander came to stand before him. “And here I thought we wouldn’t cross paths much anymore after my promotion.”

Sendak was sporting his usual smug expression, but Lance noticed the corner of his smirk twitched a little at Shiro’s words.

“I see your pet is still wearing that collar. Have you not gotten around to having his obedience implant installed yet?”

“Haggar is working on something for the emperor and asked that no one disturb her for the next few days. I assumed you were aware of that. I guess the emperor didn’t think it was important for you to know.”

Lance expected that to wipe the smirk right off Sendak’s face, but he didn’t seem the least bit bothered.

“I just returned from speaking with the emperor, actually,” Sendak said. “He asked me to inform you that there will be a celebration held in your honor tonight. It will be a rather exclusive gathering, only open to our high-ranking officers...and yourself of course. Bring your pet along and dress him accordingly.”

Lance saw the way Shiro froze up at Sendak’s words, and his own heart filled with dread. It seemed like an eternity before Shiro swallowed and wet his lips, finally offering a reply.

“Well then. Thank you for the invitation,” he said. “I wasn’t aware you’d been transferred to our special events division, Sendak. Didn’t even know we had one of those.”

Lance couldn’t help it. He snickered aloud at that… and quickly realized that was the absolute worst decision he could have made when Sendak turned his attention on him. The Galra was definitely not smirking anymore. His mechanical eye burned a hole right into the pit of Lance’s soul as he glared at him, and suddenly Lance was very aware of the massive weapon he had at his side in place of an arm. He clamped his mouth shut immediately and found himself holding his breath, trying to ready himself for the inevitable blow.

It never came. After several agonizing seconds of holding one another’s gaze, Sendak turned back to Shiro.

“I may be forced to endure your insolence, _Champion_ , but I will not tolerate disrespect from your pathetic little pet,” Sendak growled. “This is the only warning I will give you. Next time he sees fit to laugh at me I _will_ break his neck.”

“It won’t happen again, commander.” Shiro didn’t sound scared, but Lance knew he had to be if he’d actually used Sendak’s title.

Sendak and Shiro continued to silently stare at one another for a few minutes. Several of the Galra in the dining hall had noticed the tension and were trying to subtly sneak glances at them, while others had gotten up and left the area. Surely they wouldn’t actually fight, right? Lance wanted to say something to snap them out of it, but wasn’t keen on drawing Sendak’s attention to him again.

Thankfully, Sendak seemed to relax after a bit, his nasty little smirk returning in full-force.

“So you do remember how to be a _good boy_ after all,” Sendak said. The sly little edge to his voice when he said ‘good boy’ made Lance feel physically ill.

“Sendak.” Shiro’s voice came out strained, but it sounded more like he was restraining anger than fear this time. The Galra’s name was spoken almost like a warning.

Sendak just chuckled at him.

“You may have earned your place in the Empire, Champion, but don’t think anyone has forgotten who you were before. You will always bear the scars of a lowly gladiator, and you will always carry my mark upon you, no matter how hard you work to distance yourself from your past.”

“I will see you at the celebration tonight, commander. Thank you.”

Shiro grabbed Lance’s arm and tugged him to his feet, not even bothering to dispose of their food before fleeing the dining hall. Lance allowed himself to be dragged out of the room and down the hallway without protest. Shiro seemed to be out of it, weaving in and out of the many long corridors purely out of instinct, and only released Lance’s arm when he came to a halt before the door to his quarters.

“So uh, I guess we’re not going to the library today after all, huh?” Lance said.

“Huh? Oh...no, that will have to wait,” Shiro said. He blinked a few times, taking in his surroundings, and seemed to calm down a little. “I’ve got to...figure something out.”

Shiro sat on the edge of the bed as soon as they were within his quarters, cradling his head in his hands and getting that same spaced-out look as before.

“Uh...so this celebration thing isn’t gonna involve cake and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, I take it,” Lance said after a minute.

“No...it’s…” Shiro sighed and looked up at him. “Lance, I can’t present you to the others unclaimed. I’m not willing to take that risk. I’m sorry.”

Lance felt his whole body go numb.

“Well, I mean...I sorta figured this was inevitable,” he said, trying not to sound nervous. “Guess we should uh...get on with it pretty soon, huh?”

“I’m not...I’m not going to actually do that, I’m just…” Shiro sighed again. “We can probably get away with just putting my scent on you, but I’d rather be safe than sorry. I want to mark you as well.”

“Mark me…?”

“Bite you,” Shiro clarified. “A bite usually accompanies a claiming, so I think marking you would be enough to avoid any suspicions.”

“I um...I mean, ok dude, have at it. It’s not like we have much of a choice, it sounds like.”

Getting bitten by Shiro was a way better option than a bunch of Galra trying to ‘claim’ him.

“Lance...I really don’t want to do this. I just...don’t know how else I can protect you. I’m sorry for…”

He trailed off, and Lance wondered if he wanted to say he was sorry for bringing him there in the first place. Because it wasn’t an accident that Lance was there, was it? Not if he believed the message. Shiro had specifically targeted him during the battle and brought him there for some yet-unknown purpose.

“Look...it’s okay,” Lance said softly. Though honestly, it really wasn’t. It wasn’t fair that he’d been roped into some scheme that was probably going to get him killed before it was all said and done. It wasn’t fair that he was having to endure invasive medical procedures while he waited for Shiro to act. It wasn’t fair he had to choose between letting some guy permanently mark him or risk getting violated by a bunch of Galra.

But it had to be okay. If there was even the slightest chance Shiro’s plot could bring about the end of Zarkon’s reign, Lance was willing to grin and bear it a bit longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I mentioned before, I do have the next portion of this written. I feel I've given sufficient tags/warnings thus far and may add additional ones as the story progresses, but I would like to know: as a reader, is there anything you would prefer not to see? 
> 
> I am trying to be as sensitive to the preferences and needs of my readers as possible. Although I cannot promise I will completely change the story to fit all preferences, I will take them into consideration and at the very least give ample warning for material that may make anyone uncomfortable. Thank you again for reading and providing any feedback!


End file.
